joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Al-Saadi Muammar Gaddafi <seagate.travelgroup@gmail.com>
Reply-To: al_saadi_gaddafi@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 10 May 2014 02:14:18 -0700
Subject: Re:

--
Hello dear friend,

Insha'Allah, I am writing to remind you once again about my family
treasure which I will like you to take possession of, presently I am
still in detention here Tripoli, Libya my country after the death of
my father and some members of my family on April 24th 2011 after the
NATO air strike attack in Tripoli, Libya.

Please urgently revert back to me because I have limited time with
internet here, if you are in a good position to receive this treasure
box containing Gold and some other valuable items and find a good
buyer.

Meanwhile, I'm contacting you to assist me receive this box and sell
the Gold then send the money back to my Lawyer that will stand for me
in the court this Month.

Thanks and best regards, Insha'Allah, get back to me for more details
and how you will get this box by delivery security company., I will
forward you all the required documents needed please.

Sincerely,

Al-Saadi Muammar Gaddafi.

Anti-fraud resources: